Money-Saving Apps: GasBuddy

We’re up to round three in our new series about the best money-saving mobile apps. So far, we’ve covered Shopkick, an app that rewards you simply for going into your favorite stores, and Key Ring Reward Cards, an app that allows you to keep all of your retail rewards cards on your Smartphone. This week, we take a look at GasBuddy.

Why you should download it: Picture it: you’re out running errands when your gas light turns on. You pull into the next station, filling up for $3.50/gallon. Once on the road again, you pass another gas station at $3.40/gallon. And another at $3.35/gallon. If only you had known there were other gas stations nearby that were so much cheaper! Thanks to GasBuddy, you’ll never have to live this scenario again.

With GasBuddy, you can locate the cheapest gasoline nearest to you and even map a route to the cheapest station. The app will also tell you what other features that gas station has, like a car wash and convenience store. And, for every gas price you report, you can earn points toward a prize giveaway; the company gives out a $250 gas gift card every week.

How it Works: Simply download the GasBuddy app to your Smartphone and search for the nearest gas station by city, state or zip code. The results are community-generated, so it pays to report cheap gas when you find it. Earn points for each gas price you report, which you can exchange for tickets to GasBuddy’s weekly prize giveaway.